Meet Me Halfway
by notbettydraper
Summary: She wanted them to leave her alone. That wasn’t going to happen. Post-Truth and Consequences, AU-ish from there. POSSIBLE TRIGGERS


**Title:** Meet Me Halfway  
**Pairings:** Tony/Ziva, Tony/Kate  
**Rating:** Strong-T for possibly _**TRIGGERING**_ material (I just needed it out of my head so that I could have a decent day tomorrow)  
**Disclaimer:** Me no own, you no sue.  
**Summary:** She wanted them to leave her alone. That wasn't going to happen. Post-Truth and Consequences, AU-ish from there.  
**Author's Note: **I needed this thing out of my head.

--

Rule #5: Never be unreachable.

She wasn't exactly _unreachable_, she was still receiving calls, mail and IMs, she just wasn't taking any notice of them. She didn't bother unplugging her phone or stopping her mail or logging out of her messenger program, it would just cause Gibbs to send someone to her apartment, not that he hadn't already sent McGee. Twice. She dead bolted the door and took sanctuary in her bedroom, waiting for him to leave.

It had been a week since she returned from Somalia. And in that time, about five words had dropped from her lips. She had been practically catatonic on the carrier back to DC; she had just stared across the hold about a foot left of where Tony was sitting. She hadn't protested when halfway through the flight he came over next to her and wrapped his arm around her. She just continued staring at the exact same spot. When they arrived he had offered to help her off the plane, she shook her head slightly and refused to look him in the eye. He had still rested his hand on the small of her back when they stopped for the ambulance as the paramedics got out to help her in.

She had stayed under surveillance for three days. For the first night, Tony had slept in one of the chairs out in the corridor, he'd come in twice during the night, when she had been pretending to sleep, and sat in the chair at her bedside for an hour at a time. On the second day he had come in at breakfast but was met with sunken eyes looking up at him, asking him to leave. She hid her butter in the bedpan and convinced the nurse that the jelly gave her a headache.

She didn't see him on the third day.

--

Ziva struck the match against the box and let the head ignite before lighting the small candle on her coffee table. She watched the flame flicker and brought her knees up to her chest, pulling the loose knit blanket around her shoulders. In the soft light her skin seemed to glow and made her wrist that was holding the blanket around her knees look even smaller. She slowly got up again, minding her various bruises and sore muscles, and padded her way over to her bathroom, blanket still around her shoulders.

She dropped the blanket behind her and toed off her slippers, shivering as her feet hit the cool tile.

**99.2**

Less than she had been in the hospital, a half-pond less in fact. She cursed under her breath and put her slippers back on and wrapped the blanket around herself tighter than before as she made her way back into her living room.

It was late and she wasn't planning on going to bed, or sleeping for that matter, it wasn't like she had a job to go to in the morning.

--

Tony snapped his cell phone shut after being greeted by the ever-familiar female voice requesting he leave his message after the tone for the umpteenth time. He couldn't stand this, she was his partner and after all this time, she was first and foremost his friend. She wasn't taking calls or replying the messages of emails, it was like she didn't exist. Gibbs had sent McGee to check up on her but she wasn't letting him in. He was sick of this, and decided, against his better judgement, to go to her apartment himself and talk to her, despite what happened last time her did that.

--

It was late. Well, not extremely late, but after leaving work later than expected he almost considered turning his car around and going home. Almost. He drove on the human equivalent of cruise control, driving into the parking lot of _The Firecracker_. He hadn't set foot there in years, and for the first time, he realised that Ziva's apartment building was less than two blocks away from Kate's.

_The Firecracker_ had essentially been _their_ takeaway place. In the months before she had died, every night for almost two weeks they had eaten from there, he hadn't set foot in there since he had been infected with Y. Pestis and had to lay off foods that, essentially, weren't salad. Of course, two weeks later Kate had been shot, and Tony hadn't been able to bring himself to go near it until now.

Chinese wasn't really _their_ thing though. Ziva was more the "Pizza and Beer" kind of woman, as opposed to Kate who took great delight in teasing Tony about his lack of skills when it came to using chopsticks. She never did get around to teaching him. Still, he was starving and he was sure that Ziva would appreciate the sentiment. Well, he wasn't so much as _sure_ she would, more _hoped_.

The friendly owner who had served him and Kate all those years ago greeted him with a grin, asking how he and Kate had been. Tony then explained what had happened and had begun telling him about Ziva seeing as the restaurant was virtually empty. Once his order was ready, he thanked the man and was on his way.

--

Ziva slowly swung her legs over the edge of her couch, clutching the blanket and picked up the phone. She was prepared to kill the person who rang her bell at this time of night.

"Do you know what time it is?" Her throat was scratchy; she swallowed, hoping to relieve some of the soreness.

"Ziva," he took in a breath, he hadn't expected for her to answer. "It's nineteen-hundred sweet cheeks," he knew he was testing his luck but still pursued, "I got some food for you, wanna let me up?"

"I am not hungry, Tony,"

"You've got to eat, Zi-"

"I am _fine_, Tony," She insisted.

"Come on, just let me up. Please?" She bit her lip and sighed. She shut her eyes as she inhaled and pressed the buzzer, pulling her finger away quickly as if buzzing him in was a painful chore.

He heard the buzz and his heart swelled slightly. "Thank you," He pushed the door and jogged up the three flights of stairs to her apartment where he saw her door ajar.

"Ziva," he started tentatively, "you all right?" he asked as he cautiously opened her door, shutting it behind him in the same manner.

"Tony, I have already told you, I am fine," she snapped.

"Really? Then why are you sitting here in the dark?"

"I am feeling too tired to get up to turn the lights on, I can see perfectly fine,"

"Okay, I got us some food, just thought you might bee hungry but since you're not…"

"It is okay Tony, eat, I do not mind," she took a breath as she sat up straight, "Um, would you mind turning the lights on?" she asked almost timidly.

He did, then went back into her kitchen and began opening drawers and cupboards looking for her dishes.

"Bottom drawer, left of the sink," she smiled slightly as she heard his faint cheer of triumph once he had found them.

He brought dishes, chopsticks (to try and amuse her with), a soupspoon and a fork (just in case), along with the containers, to the coffee table, planting himself beside her. She leaned back in the couch and he began eating dishing himself out some Singapore noodles.

"You have never brought me Chinese food, Tony," she stated, barely moving her lips, eyes closed.

He swallowed his mouthful of noodles, "Yeah, it was sort of always me and Kate's thing," He attempted to have the same luck again with the chopsticks but was unsuccessful. Ziva opened her eye just enough to see it.

"She obviously never taught you how to use chopsticks," she deadpanned. He smiled, knowing that she was being perfectly serious; at least she was still talking to him.

"Yeah, she was going to before, uh, before-"

"Ari,"

"Yeah," He sighed.

The pair sat in silence for the next few minutes as Tony finished his meal, he decided that using the fork would give him a better chance of not being shut out after tonight. He rummaged around in the plastic bag and retrieved two golden wrappers, emblazoned with red symbols and the word _Firecracker_ accompanied with the address.

"Fortune cookie?" He smiled softly at her, she just looked back at him with the same sunken eyes she had in the hospital. "Come on, Ziva, when's the last time you ate?"

"I- that is _none _of your business," she mentally kicked herself. She should have just lied.

"If it wasn't abnormal, you would have just told me, Ziva. I'm sure your doctor's told you that you need to eat, or you'll never recover,"

"They did, Tony, but," she had to think on her feet, "I know myself better than they do, so I think that I know what I should be doing to recover,"

"Ziva," he sighed and looked at her in the eyes, "come on, meet me halfway?"

For the first time since she had been out of her cell in Somalia, she looked him in the eyes. Her heart rate and breathing had increased as if she was scared. She bit her lip and sheepishly reached out and retrieved a fortune cookie; she struggled with the wrapper for a moment but opened it once she had a sure grip. Tony looked over at her and nodded, they cracked open their cookies, tugging the small slips of paper from inside.

"You go first," he said.

" Anger begins with folly, and ends with regret," she read. It was the most confidently she had spoken in months. He chuckled slightly and she remained completely straight-faced.

Clearing his throat, Tony unravelled his fortune. "If you want the rainbow, you must put up with the rain."

--

Basing fic off of a real conversation, classy~

**I will not be continuing this.**  
This is just one of those fics I needed to get out of my head and I really do not want to write any more for this "theme".


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